13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Kabbalistic Exploration for the Layman, August 13, 2006
This review is from: The Everything Kabbalah Book: Explore This Mystical Tradition--From Ancient Rituals to Modern Day Practices (Everything (Religion)) (Paperback)
Mark Elber's "The Everything Kabbalah Book" is a well-written, lucid, easy-to-follow book that shows surprising depth and understanding for a book with such a bland title.
"Everything Kabbalah" touches on all the important areas of kabbalistic study, from the origins, to the many rabbinic masters; from the philosophy, to the practices. His discussion on the many 'faces' of Kabbalah range from the theosophical, to the ecstatic (a personal favorite), to both practical and even Christian practice.
It is very obvious to me that Mr. Elber is quite learned in this area, and goes to significant lengths to make clear the many difficult areas of metaphysical thought developed over hundreds of years.
This is an excellent book for someone new to the subject matter, or someone who knows his/her way around the 'tree' but would like a quick reference. Would make a great gift, too, to your spiritually-seeking friends.
So, get past the "Everything" book series cover. Like many things in life, if you pay more attention to what's on the inside instead of what's on the outside, you will be well rewarded.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I was looking for, but OK in some regards, August 19, 2008
This review is from: The Everything Kabbalah Book: Explore This Mystical Tradition--From Ancient Rituals to Modern Day Practices (Everything (Religion)) (Paperback)
I was disappointed with "The Everything Kabbalah Book". It's not without its good points, mostly in detailing the history of Kabbalah and all the people who have influenced it. Although I knew this is an introductory book, I was hoping for some fresh insights about some of the teachings of Kabbalah, and this book really didn't get into much of that. So, the main lesson I learned from this book, is to go back and re-read some of my other Kabbalah books, hoping for some fresh insights.
There are a few things in the book, though, which I do think worthy of jotting down:
1 Two approaches to Kabbalah - a) Traditional Orthodox - read texts literally, and 2) Academic - aim for objectivity, keeping spiritual and religious beliefs separate, this approach happened mostly in the last 80 or so years.
2. What distinguished Kabbalah from previous forms of Jewish mysticism, is the concept of Ein Sof (the infinite unknowable divinity) and ten Sefirot (divine emanations).
3. Some types of Jewish laws have no rational explanation other than to make someone "holy". So, Kabbalah, over the years, commented on their "esoteric" significance.
4. Some occult sciences also appear on the fringes of Kabbalah, like astrology.
5. Sufism is Islam's inner, mystical and esoteric counterpart to Kabbalah.
6. It is important to recognize that Kabbalah, though not rational, is also not irrational. A better term is nonrational, like appreciation of music and art.
7. Maimonides, as a Jewish philosopher, influenced Kabbalists by tilting meditation towards contemplating/thinking about God, rather than "being" with God, as most Kabbalists thought about meditation.
8. An interesting thought from a Hasidic master, about answering the question "Why should I study Kabbalah if I don't believe in God?". The answer - "The God you don't believe in, I don't either."
Again, some worthwhile history and thoughts, but not really any of Kabbalah's teachings, which I had hoped for.
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